Mickey moved carefully as he started to pull on his shirt, but a sudden sting of pain still made him groan and stop to clutch his side. He winced again when the door opened and a familiar voice gasped.

"What are you doing?" Minnie hurried over and took his arm. "You shouldn't be up so soon!"

Mickey tried not to wince as he began to protest.

"But I gotta…"

Ignoring his words, Minnie placed a hand on his forehead.

"What you've gotta do is lay down," she scolded. "You know that you're supposed to be careful."

She tugged him back toward his bed, but Mickey planted his feet. It wasn't that he thought she was helpless, but the thought of her facing Mortimer while he just sat here made him feel sick.

"I don't wanna make ya do this by yourself. I should be there t' help!"

His words trailed off as Minnie reached out and caressed his cheek.

"Mickey, I'll be fine. Daisy will be watching and I'm not scared." She moved closer, poking his nose.

"You can help by staying right here and getting your rest. I can't do this if I'm worrying about you."

Despite himself, Mickey felt his resolve start to ebb. He already felt bad for how worried she'd been before, and hated the idea of making it worse. Finally, he sighed and looked at the floor.

"Okay."

A hand lifted his chin and he found himself looking at Minnie's reassuring smile. Before Mickey could say a word, she planted a gentle kiss on his lips. His heart immediately melted, along with any remaining resistance.

"Long as… you're sure…"

Minnie giggled and gently pushed him onto the bed, checking his bandages for any sign of bleeding.

"Don't worry about me. The way I feel right now, I'd like to see him try something."

Even though he still felt worried, Mickey couldn't resist chuckling at that. A knock came at the door, then Oswald stepped in.

"Hey, you ready?"

Minnie gave Mickey one more stern look, then nodded.

"I'm ready."

The rabbit gave her a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, Goofy'll be around to keep an eye on him."

"Hey!" Mickey protested. "I said I wouldn't go anywhere!"

Oswald only smirked at him.

"Never hurts t' be sure."

Mickey crossed his arms and slumped against the pillow, his annoyed look very close to a pout. Minnie tried hard not to laugh and patted his arm.

"Besides, it won't be long," Oswald continued with an evil looking grin. "I had a li'l… talk with our pal Pete last night."

Mickey's brows immediately raised.

"Os… what'd you do?"

The rabbit shrugged, and Minnie noticed him subtly flex his hands.

"Nothin' he can't shrug off… in a day or two. Anyway, with what he spilled and Minnie and Daisy, we've got plenty."

Minnie nodded, then looked at Mickey when he squeezed her hand.

"Good luck," he said softly.

Minnie smiled back and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead before following Oswald out into the sitting room, where Goofy met them on his way in.

"Ya ready?" he asked, smiling at Minnie. She smiled back and nodded.

"Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself."

"I can vouch for that," Oswald added, smirking. "Just make sure Mick doesn't try any funny stuff."

An irritated voice came from behind the bedroom door.

"I can still hear, ya know!"

All three tried hard not to laugh as Goofy shook Minnie's hand.

"Well, good luck t' ya, Miss. We're real grateful to ya both."

Minnie lowered her eyes with a shy smile.

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just glad we can help."

As she and Oswald left the room and headed down the hall, the rabbit began to explain the basics.

"Basically, it's pretty simple. Daisy's gonna be done soon and then you just go up and vouch for her and tell what ya know. There's only gonna be a few people listening, the ministers, and they'll keep it quiet about who ya are, so don't worry about that."

Minnie nodded, then glanced at him.

"What if it has to go to trial?"

Oswald snorted.

"Mortimer might talk a good show, but he's a bigger idiot than anyone. He's diggin' himself in already. If he still won't own up when you're done it'll go to a vote, but I doubt they'd give it to 'im."

Minnie felt a little reassured, but unease still gnawed at the back of her mind.

What if they do? It'll just give him a chance to get away.

She took a deep breath as they turned a corner and approached a large, heavily guarded door, pushing down her nerves.

Do it for Mickey.

A hand on her shoulder made Minnie look at Oswald.

"Ya ready?"

The young mouse nodded without hesitation. Oswald gave her an encouraging nod.

"Just stay calm, no matter what he says."

Minnie nodded again, her face set.

"I will."

One of the guards stationed by the door opened it, and Minnie set herself in formal mode as they entered the room. Lillian was sitting at the center of a long table with six other people in dark robes, four men and two women, on either side of her. Two smaller tables stood below them; Daisy gave Minnie a subtle wave from one, but the mouse's smile quickly dropped when she looked at the other table, where Mortimer was sulking with a stone-faced guard behind him.

Minnie clenched her teeth, her anger flaring again, but then Lillian stood up.

"Thank you, Miss Daisy. We are now ready to call the final witness."

Oswald gave Minnie a slight nudge. Taking another breath to calm down, Minnie squared her shoulders and walked in. She didn't look at Mortimer as she passed; no matter how much she wanted to do something far less ladylike, it wouldn't reflect too well on her as a witness. And, of course, there was the fact that ignoring him would probably drive him crazy.

Stopping near the other table, she faced the queen and ministers and curtsied. Lillian gave her a small but warm smile and nodded before speaking.

"Ladies, gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce Princess Minerva of Burbank. She and her young friend have been kind enough to give us their help."

The others stood right away to offer their own bows and curtsies along with words of thanks, and Minnie could see faint smiles on their faces. It seemed like almost everyone in the castle was in brighter moods.

"Now then," Lillian said, her voice formal. "Are we ready to continue?"

An angry scoff came from Mortimer.

"Ready for what? This is a joke!"

Minnie was about to snap back at him, but one of the ministers beat her to it.

"Enough! You will not speak to Her Majesty this way! If these outbursts continue, you will be removed!"

For a minute Minnie thought he might keep it up. The glaring faces made him think twice, but his scowl remained. Lillian turned back to Minnie; her voice was calm but suppressed anger tightened it.

"Princess Minerva, do you solemnly swear that what you say is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"

Resisting the urge to glare at Mortimer, Minnie forced herself to reply in a cool, collected tone.

"I do so swear."

The queen nodded, the lines around her eyes softening.

"Very good. Ministers, proceed."

She sat down, allowing the others to follow. Minnie kept her back straight and her hands folded neatly on the table, her expression calm and collected as the first minister spoke.

"Your Highness, you and Lady Daisy were both present when the prisoner's assault took place, is that correct?"

"Yes," Minnie replied. "We saw it all."

The ministers glanced at each other, then another spoke up.

"She has testified that she saw the same man in Lord Rodawn's company. My apologies to you both if I offend, but are you wiling to affirm this?"

Minnie nodded right away.

"Of course. We've known each other since we were children, and I trust her completely."

There were a few nods, then another minister, an elderly female rabbit, spoke.

"Forgive my presumption, Highness, but it's true that you never gave permission for official courtship?"

Faint grumbling came from Mortimer's table, but Minnie didn't even look at him and let some of her disdain show.

"Yes… but it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't care."

Mortimer growled, shooting up from his seat.

"More like I didn't know you were seeing someone else on the side!"

Minnie saw Lillian begin to stand, but her resolve to stay calm had been blown to bits. Slowly, she got up and aimed a blistering glare at Mortimer.

"And just how would you know that?"

Silence filled the room, and Mortimer looked like he wanted to bite out his tongue. The sound of angry murmuring came from the ministers, but by now Minnie couldn't stop herself.

"So you thought you could just remove a problem and never considered who it might be. Well, it wouldn't have done any good. Prince or not, Mickey is a thousand times the man you'll ever be!"

His face completely red by now, Mortimer slammed a fist on the table.

"Listen, you…!"

"Enough!"

Lillian's fierce voice rang through the room, freezing everyone in place. Minnie felt her face heat and quickly sat back down.

"I-I… please forgive me, Your Majesty, I…"

"There's no need to apologize." The reply was still firm, but gentler. "Ministers, have you any further questions?"

The counselors glanced at each other, then the man on her right bowed slightly.

"No, my Queen. We have heard all we need."

"Very well," Lillian replied, then looked coldly at Mortimer. "Unless you have anything to say, Rodawn, the council will proceed to collaboration."

Unfortunately, he did.

"This is crazy! Just because a few people bad talk me you have to…"

"Silence," Lillian hissed. "You forget, this has gone far beyond talk." She didn't shout or even raise her voice, but Minnie still felt a chill run down her back and lowered her eyes as the queen continued.

"Now, unless you have a real argument…"

For once Mortimer didn't say anything, probably due to the frowning guard behind him, but threw a glare at Minnie and Daisy. He had only looked at Oswald once, then notably avoided him. Not that Minnie blamed him; the rabbit's look could peel paint.

"Then we shall proceed to vote. Ministers?"

Minnie felt her shoulders tense as each of the counselors reached for the quills in front of them. She felt Daisy place a hand on hers, but she couldn't pull her focus away from the front of the room.

Finally, the ministers each wrote on a parchment and passed it to Lillian. Minnie bit her lip as she shifted through the answers, then stood.

"According to the vote, the verdict is 'guilty', with a sentence of relinquishment of rank and imprisonment."

Minnie resisted the urge to sigh heavily in relief as Mortimer sputtered.

"B-b-but I didn't know… I never told him to…"

To the others' surprise, he shut up as soon as Lillian raised her hand.

"You willingly encouraged someone to inflict harm on another. What you thought is of no consequence. Guard, take him away."

As the guard hauled Mortimer out of the room, Lillian smiled at Minnie and Daisy.

"We thank you for your statements, ladies."

Minnie smiled back as she and Daisy stood and curtsied, then headed toward the door. Oswald was grinning ear to ear, and as soon as they left he clapped a hand on each of their shoulders.

"That was great!" he exclaimed. Daisy cleared her throat as she gently pushed off his hand.

"Yes, thank you…"

Minnie just giggled.

"I'm just glad it went all right."

Oswald grinned and patted her arm.

"Well, guess we better head back 'fore Mick tries climbin' the walls."

As they headed back down the hall, Minnie took Daisy's arm.

"Daisy, I'm so grateful that you've been here… but I was hoping you would be willing to do one more thing for me."

"Of course… what?" Daisy asked. Minnie took a deep breath.

"I'm going to write a letter to Father later. Would you please take it back home?"

Daisy stopped and looked at her for a moment, then a proud and grateful smile spread across her face.

"Of course." To Minnie's slight surprise, she pulled her into a hug. "I'd be happy to."